WTC Final | NZ reel under huge pressure as Ashwin surpases Cummins on wicket-takers' list

Lawson Naidoo appointed first independent Chairperson of CSA

After a lot of mud-slinging, government intervention and some wise decision making later, Cricket South Africa have for the first time appointed an independent Chairperson of the Board. Along with that, Steven Budlender has been appointed as the lead independent director. Naidoo, a lawyer by profession has had an illustrious career in government and politics and is currently the executive secretary of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution. "We are all well aware of the challenges facing us in making CSA a world-class sporting organisation both on and off the field of play," Naidoo was quoted as saying in the CSA official release post his appointment. After the country’s thunderous victory in the Test series against West Indies, CSA is now committed to winning back the trust of the stakeholders, including the sponsors. "The board agreed to focus their first 100 days in office on bringing stability to the organisation and embarking on an engagement programme to gain input from stakeholders as it seeks to align everyone towards a shared vision for the future.”

WTC final | Fans ejected from ground after hurling abuses at New Zealand players

Two members of the crowd present at the Hampshire Bowl were ejected on the fifth day of the World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand. Those fans were ejected by the ground security team employed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) which said that it received reports of abuse against New Zealand players. "We received reports of abuse directed at the New Zealand players. Our security team were able to identify the culprits and they were ejected from the ground. We will not tolerate any sort of abusive behaviour in cricket,” ICC said in its statement. The ICC has not received any detailed account of what happened on the fifth day but ESPNcricinfo reported that incidents occurred in the M block of the ground and the abuses were both’ racial and general’ in nature. The latest case of racism and ejection of fans is the second such case this year after Indian players were subjected to racial abuse on the tour of Australia earlier this year. Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj was hurled abuse while fielding at the fine leg which also prompted the halting of the game for some time leading to the ejection of fans from the Sydney Cricket Ground.

WTC final | BJ Watling dislocates finger, but carries on wicketkeeping on final day of Test career

Perfectly epitomising what his role has been for New Zealand cricket over the entire length of his Test career, BJ Watling carried on keeping the wickets even after dislocating a finger on his right hand on the final day of the World Test Championship final against India. He was hurt on his hand by a Kane Williamson’s throw when Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant tried to steal a single in the second half of the first session on the final day. New Zealand had India in deep trouble with the wickets of Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara early on in the day before Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant steadied the ship. However, the partnership could not last longer as Rahane was dismissed strangled down the leg side off Trent Boult to leave India reeling under pressure. Kyle Jamieson, who took a five-wicket haul in the first innings continued to be the star performer for the Blackcaps with the wickets of both Kohli and Pujara on deliveries outside off stump. Kohli was worried about the balls nipping back to him and edged one behind to BJ Watling while Pujara, too, was dismissed in a rare manner of poking outside his off stump. India had conceded a lead of 32 runs in the first innings which has turned out to be a detrimental factor in their progress on the final day of the big final.

Inside out | Rohit Sharma's Southampton return had a little less flair and a lot more substance

Rohit Sharma is the most improved batsman in the current Indian Test team. The fans of Ravindra Jadeja won’t agree and it is a point worth arguing, but improvement in Rohit’s batting has been exemplary, and second to none. Before the fans will get enraged by such a high rating of him, just ask any Indian cricket fan one question. What were they fearing the most when New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and asked India to bat first in the extreme conditions heavily stacked against batting. The memory of the ODI World Cup semifinal two years back against the Kiwis are fresh in their memories and the situation was all but similar at the Hampshire Bowl in an equally, if not much bigger contest on the line. There was one more similarity apart from the bowling-friendly conditions and impressive Kiwi bowlers, and it was Rohit, who now has claimed the position of an opener since that horrendous World Cup in 2019. But, Rohit of now is an improved batsman, who is aware of his off stump and what he does not have to do while batting in tough conditions. The way he shaped up to play the perpetually threatening new-ball duo of Tim Southee and Trent Boult was an emblem of him finally coming of age in the longest format. He was mobile on his feet but in different ways against Boult and Southee. Against the left-armer Boult, his feet were not right down the pitch of the ball but around the leg stump to have open access for the bat to stop a whooping inswinger finding him in front of the stumps. Against Southee, he played so late that balls would have barely believed they came to strike against the Rohit’s bat. He did not achieve all that difference in batting and technique by compromising on the dominating shots that make him a batsman to watch out for. When Kiwis switched to the military medium of Colin de Grandhomme, he was aware of the rare run-scoring opportunities to capitalise on and reward himself with some easy runs. It has not been easy for openers in the last few years to put on big partnerships and add to it the magnitude of challenges New Zealand pacers prested against the pair of Rohit and Shubman Gill, and the opening partnership between them was a breath of fresh air to Indian cricket. Since the 2011 ODI World Cup, it has not been even one series where the Indian top order does not face scrutiny and more often than not, the team management has been forced to launch musical chairs between openers. From the time of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir along with Abhinav Mukund and Rahul Dravid to the phase of Murali Vijay- Shikhar Dhawan-KL Rahul trio, India never had a settled top order and the cracks start opening up right from the first game itself. Hence, even if India don’t win or secure a draw in the World Test Championship final, there is no doubt that Shubman Gill and Rohit will walk out to open the innings against England in August. Remember, it was the continuous rotation of openers due to poor form and lack of consistency by KL Rahul in the period after the world cup and the absence of Prithvi Shaw that had tempted MSK Prasad to try Rohit as an opener. He had always excelled in the home Tests and hence his rollicking performances against South Africa did not come as a revelation and it was always argued if Rohit will be able to weather storms and pile on the runs in overseas conditions. Injuries came to halt his progress as he missed the entire Test series against New Zealand and the first two Tests of the series against Australia late last year. The lack of match practise due to hard quarantine norms in Australia and a series in the backdrop of an IPL season meant he came back in the side purely based on his ‘talent’ and ‘experience’ as Virat Kohli was returning home for the birth of his first child. Rohit was on the top of his game and never looked like a fish out of deep water while opening the batting against the trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. He could not convert his hard-earned starts into something big and match-winning just like the two innings in the World Test Championship final, but all of those innings have been substantial in allowing the Indian batting lineup to breathe easily back in the change room. He did falter in those innings and fiddled at one so far away from his body in the first innings against Kyle Jamieson but he is only a batsman and not a robot designed to give up on the temptation of run-scoring, and Jamieson is a bloody good bowler to be feeling shameful on getting out. He was done in by the guile of Tim Southee who set him up with big outswingers before using the natural variation to straighten one towards his pads. But, the hard work he did against the new ball when Boult and Southee tested his aptitude was exemplary and the lead of 32 runs which could well have been decisive on the fifth day evening itself was crossed over seamlessly. For a batsman, who was at the heart of India’s dismal run of performance in the 2014 tour of England after MS Dhoni decided to include him as a defensive move to stop England from snatching away the momentum after a historic win at Lord’s to becoming a batsman who laid the foundation of stronger Indian batting performances, the life of Rohit, the Test cricketer, has come a full circle. He had thrown his wicket away off Moeen Ali just minutes before the tea break and when Alastair Cook had opted to rotate his pacers. Until then, India were strolling on the third day of the third Test at the same venue where the WTC final is being played at and the shot was so poor that it earned him a public rebuke from MS Dhoni, who was known to not give up on his players so easily. In the six innings so far on overseas soil as an opener, Rohit has not been able to hit any significantly big scores, but out of the two tasks an opener is assigned with, he has done the duty of preserving the batsmen lower down the order perfectly. He combatted 68 balls against the quartet of Southee, Boult, Kyle Jamieson and Neil Wagner on a cold and demanding day on the second day in Southampton and followed it up with another calm presence at the crease for 81 balls. The lack of big runs on the big tours will come back to haunt his Test career but the investment that the team management started in 2019 to bring experience to the side has not been an unsuccessful one. The opening pair of Rohit and Gill has established India’s fortitude against the new ball and the Test series against England would be another milestone to make or break Rohit Sharma, the Test opener, and a batsman.